Opinions on Sonicare/Waterpik?

Since my gums are apparently kind of bad (bleeding, pockets in the 3-5 range, but with no bone loss or anything) my doctor recommended that I use a waterpik. Just for the heck of it, I also bought a Sonicare toothbrush, but I was wondering if these should be used in conjunction and if they actually work well. I still have buildup on my teeth after my cleaning (I can still feel the floss catching on small ledges between some of my teeth) and I don't think they would affect that at all. My scaling is scheduled for a month from now... if I use these two things religiously, will any improvement be seen in that time?

Re: Opinions on Sonicare/Waterpik?

Hi guys, Not sure if you remeber any of my past posts but alot has happened to me since then. I went to dentist, i had five cavities taken care of, had a cleaning done. Today, i had the zoom whitening done. Kinda dissappointed at results. My teeth were really a dingy yellow due to excess coffee stains and lack of care on my part. My question is, im getting veneers done in two weeks. I don't like this shade though, am i stuck with it? i paid 500.00 today, insurance didnt cover it. I can't afford another 500.00. Should i use the at home stuff in the stores before the veneers are put on?I only have money left for the 6 veneers, which is costing me 900.00 each. Please answer soon, thanks guys. take care. Any help you can advise me on will help. byee

Re: Opinions on Sonicare/Waterpik?

There is no real evidence to support the use of a waterpik. I tend to like the idea of it, but it simply doesn't appear to do anything useful. The time would be better spent using floss and interdental brushes.

I do also quite like sonicare brushes, but again the research doesn't seem to support them as being very effective in comparison with Oral-B.

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Despite appearances to the contrary, Gordon has been a qualified dentist for over thirty years.

Re: Opinions on Sonicare/Waterpik?

christy72, this is called thread hijacking, don't do it again, it's not very polite.

The best person to ask about this would be your dentist, I think if you're paying him almost 6k dollars you can expect him to answer your questions first!
The over the counter gels don't work very well in general because the trays don't fit closely enough. Veneers can be made pretty well any shade you like but the shade of the rest of the teeth needs to be considered too or else the veneers can look really odd in comparison.

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Despite appearances to the contrary, Gordon has been a qualified dentist for over thirty years.

Re: Opinions on Sonicare/Waterpik?

For what it's worth, when I brush with my sonicare, I can easily push air out between my top teeth afterwards with my tongue. Brushing with a regular toothbrush, I can't.

I tend to alternate between sonicare and regular brushing on different days. One of the things they say in the owners manual is you should scrub the tops of you molars with a regular brush, becuase sonicare isn't as good in getting everything out there as a normal toothbrush, and you don't want to scrub with the sonicare brush as you'll wear them out quick and the replacments are more expensive than normal brushes.